Daily Current Affairs 26 June 2023 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 26 June 2023 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :

The Digital India Bill

Source : The Hindu
GS II : Government policies

Overview

1. Salient provisions of the Digital India Bill

Why in News ?

The MeitY has been building consensus on the proposed Digital India Bill that will replace India’s 23-year-old IT Act 2000.

Key Facts

Background

• The IT Act of 2000 was written 22 years ago during the initial era of internet.
• In 2000, pre-digital India made provisions for the emerging IT ecosystem because there were no current internet-based services like e-Commerce or social media platforms.
• Limited mandate: legal acceptance of electronic transactions, records, and signatures made in India via electronic means.
• Internet, technology, and information have given citizens more power.
• However, these have also brought up difficulties such as user injury, uncertainty in user rights, security, women’s safety, orchestrated information warfare, radicalization, and dissemination of hate speech, as well as false information and unfair business practises.

Salient provisions of the Digital India Bill

• Classification of intermediaries: To assign distinct rules to various sorts of intermediates, such as social media platforms, e-commerce platforms, AI platforms, and fact-checking platforms.
• In order to classify intermediaries into appropriate groups, it necessitates that they conduct risk evaluations.
• A new Internet regulator: similar to the TRAI or the SEBI.
• Deliberate disinformation, identity theft, child cyberbullying, and other behaviours might all be considered crimes by the MeitY.
• There may also be changes to some of the fundamental guidelines that now govern online platforms, such as safe harbour standards.
• Penalties for infractions and user damages using developing technologies, such as ChatGPT and generative AI systems.

Need for a new Act

• After the IT Act of 2000 was passed, several changes and amendments have been made 
  • Aim of defining the digital world that it controls and emphasising the data management standards.
• IT Act was initially intended to safeguard e-commerce transactions and outline cybercrime offences, it did not sufficiently address either data privacy rights or the intricacies of the present cybersecurity scenario.
• The IT Act would not be able to keep up with the speed and increasing sophistication of cyberattacks without a comprehensive revision of the governing digital laws.

Wagner Group Russia

Source : Indian Express
GS II : Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate

Overview

1. About Wagner Group Russia
2. How they impact the world?

Why in News ?

Russia had an unusual internal security crisis as the commander of the Wagner Private Military Company in Russia staged a mutiny against the nation’s defence apparatus for a brief period of time.

About Wagner Group Russia

• They are a paramilitary group in Russia with Yevgeny Prigozhin as its leader.
• Although it closely collaborates with the Russian security establishment, it is not legally a private military corporation located in Russia.
• Essentially, it consists of a mercenary network and a private military business.
• While assisting pro-Russian rebel militants in eastern Ukraine, it was initially discovered in 2014.
• In 2022, it became incorporated and moved its headquarters to St. Petersburg.
• The Wagner Group has reportedly grown to include 50,000 fighters in Ukraine and has become an important part of the operation there.

How they impact the world?

• Africa’s Sudan, Mali, Central African Republic, Mozambique, and Libya have all seen activity from the Wagner group.
• The operations include directly assisting authoritarian governments, aiding rival leaders fighting internal battles, filling the hole left by the French military’s withdrawal, engaging in resource exploitation, etc.
• Media sources claim that it frequently offers its services to other countries in exchange for access to gold and diamond mines.

31 MQ-9B Drones India-U.S Deal

Source : The Hindu
GS III : Science and Technology; GS II : International Relation

Overview

1. About the Deal
2. 31 MQ-9B Drones

Why in News ?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden announced the mega deal on the purchase of General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper armed drones by India.

About the Deal

• The ministry has merely approved the acquisition of 31 MQ 9B HALE drones on the basis of need; no meaningful discussions have yet started.
• Challenge
  • These drones are currently only available in the United States and China has been attempting to buy it, but has been unsuccessful.
  • These drones will provide India additional capabilities once they are acquired
  • The nation’s opponents are concerned and may attempt to thwart the purchase process.
• Procedure
  • A letter of request to the Biden administration and obtaining a letter of offer and acceptance from the US government are the following steps in the procedure.
  • The US government will issue this letter upon US Congress approval.
  • The Contract Negotiation Committee (CNS) will then complete the provisions of the contract before submitting it for Cabinet Committee for Security (CCS) approval.
  • The full cost and conditions of the deal won’t be disclosed until that point.
• Requirement
  • A scientific analysis of India’s demands and requirements, taking into account its geographic and marine surroundings, led Integrated Defence Services to suggest the purchase of 31 drones for the three Services.
• Technology Transfer (ToT)
  • There will be some technology transfer (ToT) involved in the procurement.
  • New Delhi is aiming for a ToT of at least 15% to 20%.
  • More negotiations will take place, and the government will obtain certain crucial technology.
• Impact on TAPAS
  • As the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) is creating Tapas, a drone in the MALE category, procurement is not in opposition to Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
  • With ADE and DRDO, the Indian Navy is already collaborating on TAPAS, a technology that may be used for unmanned flight development in the civilian sector.

31 MQ-9B Drones

• The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper has an endurance of more than 27 hours, can fly up to 50,000 feet at 240 KTAS, and can carry a payload of 1,746 kilogrammes.
• Compared to the older MQ-1 Predator, it can carry five times as much weight and has nine times as much power.
• It is intended to fly above the horizon by satellite for up to forty hours, depending on configuration, in all kinds of weather.
• The SkyGuardian and the SeaGuardian are the two versions of the MQ-9B.
• For the Indian Navy, there are 15 SeaGuardians, and the Indian Army and Air Force each have eight SkyGuardians.

What is the Liberalised Remittances Scheme (LRS)?

Source : Indian Express
GS II : Indian Economy

Overview

1. About Liberalised Remittances Scheme (LRS)
2. Who may send money under the LRS?
3. Permitted transaction types

Why in News ?

Twenty per cent tax on Liberalised Remittances Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank of India is set to kick off soon.

Key Facts

About Liberalised Remittances Scheme (LRS)

• LRS allows Indian residents to freely remit up to USD $250,000 per financial year for current or capital account transactions or a

  

  combination of both.

• Any remittance exceeding this limit requires prior permission from the RBI.
• The scheme was introduced by RBI on February 4, 2004.

Who may send money under the LRS?

• The LRS only permits individual Indian residents, including minors, to remit payments.
• Corporate entities, partnership businesses, HUFs, trusts, etc. are not included in its scope.
• The frequency of remittances under LRS is not constrained.
• A resident individual would not be entitled to make any more remittances under this plan after making one for up to USD 2,50,000 during the financial year.

Permitted transaction types

• Opening of foreign currency accounts abroad with a bank
• Acquisition of immovable property abroad, overseas direct investment (ODI), and overseas portfolio investment (OPI)
• Extending loans, including loans in Indian Rupees to non-resident Indians (NRIs) who are relatives as defined in the Companies Act, 2013
• Private visits abroad(excluding Nepal and Bhutan)
• Maintenance of relatives abroad
• Medical treatment abroad
• Pursuing studies abroad
• The Union Budget 2023 introduced a Tax Collection at Source (TCS) for outward foreign remittance under LRS (other than for Education and medical purpose) of 20% on the entire value.

Tax liability on profit made: If any profit is made on foreign investments made under LRS, it is taxable in India based on how long the investment was held.

Anna Bhagya 2.0 scheme

Source : The Hindu
GS II : Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate

Overview

1. About the Scheme

Why in News ?

Food Corporation of India (FCI) recently rejected various States’ demands to reconsider the decision to restrict purchase through the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS), which is going against Karnataka’s Anna Bhagya 2.0 scheme.

• State governments had alleged that such a move was against the interest of the poor.

Key Facts

Anna Bhagya 2.0 scheme

• It is Karnataka’s food security program that provides subsidized rice to poor families in the state.

  

• The scheme aims to alleviate poverty in the region by providing poor families with access to subsidized rice.
• This will help to reduce the cost of living for these families and can help to improve their food security.

What is the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS)?

• OMSS refers to the selling of food grains by the government/government agencies at predetermined prices in the open market from time to time.
• Food Corporation of India sells surplus stocks of wheat and rice under Open Market Sale Scheme (Domestic) at pre-determined prices through e-auction in the open market from time to time to enhance the supply of food grains.

What is FCIs argument?

• The FCI had said the States’ schemes cater to the same set of beneficiaries covered under the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna and to curb the inflation

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